Rising Of Temperature In The Earth, Spreading Of Mammals May Be Explained By Comet Impact

Questions regarding the origin of the world are still evolving. The root of humans, animals and so much more challenged scientists to study and discover the origins further. Thus, a current research shows that the origin of mammals might come from the impact if the comet from 55 million years ago.

A team of American researchers writing in the journal of science has studied that a comet impact from 55 million years ago might have caused the mammals to monopolize the Earth. They also believed that it could possibly trigger a rapid phase of global warming in connection with the expansion of mammal groups during the Eocene period of time. The experts had outlined the theory as they found fragments of spherical glass thought to a pattern when molten debris flung out by an impact solidifies in midair. However, their findings remain questionable by other scientists, as reported by the Red Orbit.

The experts claimed that the space impacts have a significant effect on the Earth's ecosystems. For instance, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula an asteroid slammed 66 million years ago and was responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs.

Co-author of the new study Dennis Kent, from Rutgers University, found the possibility that the glass they found in sediment cores drilled along the New Jersey coast may have come from the 10km-wide comet that slammed into the Atlantic Ocean. They believe that this could be the source of the mysterious release of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses which warmed the planet. Prof. Kent said that "It got warm in a hurry. This suggests where it came from."

Meanwhile, the researchers believe that the spike in temperature closely corresponds with the spreading of mammal groups to different parts of the world. The different groups are the Artiodactyla, the Perissodactyla, and the Primates--the mammalian order including humans. On the other hand, the modern Artiodactyls include sheep, pigs, camels and giraffes and Perissodactyls include horses, tapirs, rhinos and zebras, according to BBC.

However, the scientists cannot fully explainthe drivers behind the rapid phase of mammal evolution. The experts explained that the planet became essentially ice-free during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. The sea levels were higher than now, experts added that many small, single-celled bottom of the ocean creatures became extinct. As for the land mammals, they adapted by moving towards the poles by which new opportunities on surviving the Earth opened for them.